The Guardian
How the ‘animal internet’ sheds light on the secrets of migration
Aristotle thought the mysterious silver eel emerged from the earth fully formed. The young Sigmund Freud could not understand how it reproduced, and modern biologists puzzled for years over whether it ever returned to the Sargasso Sea, where it was known to breed.
Last year a team of Canadian scientists found conclusive proof of that extraordinary journey. They strapped tracking devices to 38 eels and followed as they migrated more than 900 miles at a depth of nearly a mile to the Sargasso, in the Atlantic near Bermuda. This year French researchers used geolocators to watch them descending European rivers and passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, heading for the same spot.
Continue reading...More than half of jobs in UK solar industry lost in wake of subsidy cuts
Change in government’s energy policy blamed for job losses just as solar power eclipses coal in electricity generation
The solar power industry says it has seen the loss of more than half its 35,000 jobs due to recent changes in government energy policy, just at a time when solar power has eclipsed coal as a major generator of Britain’s electricity.
Experts believe ministers had cut subsidies too far and too fast, praising the “seismic”, record-breaking growth of solar in recent years.
Continue reading...The last frontier: the climbers conquering Mount Everest without oxygen
Among elite mountain climbers, summiting Everest sans oxygen has become the latest challenge in an already grueling journey
Another climbing season has finished on Mount Everest, with the inevitable tales of tragedy and triumph.
Since 2000, an average of seven people a year have died on Everest. The past two years were especially grim: 19 people were killed by an earthquake-triggered avalanche in 2015, and 16 died in 2014.
Continue reading...British flower power: how home-grown blooms can compete with cheap imports
The UK spends more than £2bn on cut flowers per year, but around 90% are imported. Now a new breed of growers are determined to grab more of that market, by persuading the public that local and seasonal are the ways to go
Georgie Newbery sometimes has to dodge a hunting barn owl when she rises at 5am to harvest flowers on her seven-acre plot near Wincanton in Somerset. Picking sweet rocket, foxgloves and cornflowers as dawn light streaks over the fields may sound idyllic, but grabbing a cup of tea on a late-May afternoon after despatching her exclusively British-grown posies and bouquets, Newbery laughs at the thought. “If you imagine it’s all standing around in a flower garden with a Roberts radio and a robin singing, you couldn’t be more wrong,” she says, possibly a little tartly.
Related: Is crowdfunding the future of horticulture?
Continue reading...Tackling pollution: Beijing's electric bikes and buses - in pictures
Vehicles are the source of a third of the air pollution in the Chinese capital, which restricts their use during episodes of heavy smog. Electric cars, buses, scooters and bicycles offer an alternative, cleaner form of transport
The humble daisy brings a smile to my face
South Uist The plant’s uses are many, but the sight of a sunlit field full of daisies is perhaps what we should value most
Daisies are one of our best known and most widely distributed wildflowers, and maybe this is why we sometimes pass them by with barely a second glance. This morning, though, they have stopped me in my tracks and brought a smile to my face.
They line the edge of the path, spangle the open grassland, and have so thoroughly covered one fenced pasture that almost all signs of grass have vanished beneath a blanket of white. In the warm sunshine each and every one turns a bright and open face skywards, a response that gave them their name “day’s eye”.
Continue reading...Ellen DeGeneres bewildered at backlash to her Great Barrier Reef request
Comedian says she put out an announcement because of the need to protect oceans and the reef, and cannot understand what the fuss is all about
The US talkshow queen Ellen DeGeneres is bewildered her call to protect the Great Barrier Reef has sparked a backlash in Australia.
DeGeneres made headlines earlier in the week with the release of a video public service announcement as part of the Remember the Reef campaign.
Continue reading...Light pollution atlas shows areas of Earth that cannot see the stars – video
A team of scientists at the National Centers for Environmental Information in Boulder, Colorado have produced a digital atlas of the Earth that shows the levels of light pollution. The atlas makes use of low-light imaging now available from the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, calibrated by thousands of ground observations. Light pollution is so severe in some parts of the world that a third of human beings cannot see the Milky Way
Continue reading...Microbeads, Great Barrier Reef and CO2 turned to stone – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...Brexit would worsen UK's air pollution crisis, say experts
A poll of environmental professionals showed most think the UK benefits from EU air pollution rules
The UK’s air pollution crisis would get worse if the country votes to leave the European Union, according to a new poll of environment professionals.
The UK already has levels of air pollution above legal EU limits in many cities, resulting in 40,000 early deaths a year, while ministers are currently lobbying in Brussels against lower air pollution limits.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Tibetan antelopes, tussling Indian rat snakes and Europe’s last primeval forest are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Paris floods made almost twice as likely by climate change, say scientists
Manmade global warming greatly increased the risk of extreme rain affecting the French capital, analysis shows
The Paris floods, that saw extreme rainfall swell the river Seine to its highest level in decades, were made almost twice as likely because of the manmade emissions driving global warming, scientists have found.
A three-day period of heavy rain at the end of May saw tens of thousands of people evacuated across France, and the capital’s normally busy river closed to traffic because the water levels were so high under bridges. As artworks in the Louvre were moved to safety and Paris’s cobbled walkways were submerged, the French president, François Hollande, blamed the floods on climate change.
Continue reading...Yorkshire fracking approval may be unlawful, campaigners say
Decision to allow shale gas tests in village of Kirby Misperton could be challenged in court, Friends of the Earth says
Anti-fracking campaigners have claimed that a decision to allow energy companies to drill for shale gas in Yorkshire could be challenged in court.
The fracking firm Third Energy was given permission last month to carry out test drilling at a site in Kirby Misperton in Rydale, North Yorkshire, even after locals opposed the application.
Continue reading...Suncatcher: the road to a solar powered global transport network – video
The world is covered in more than 40m miles of road networks. What if this network could act like solar panels, and what if we could power our vehicles with the energy generated by this? In 2009, these questions formed the beginning of a vision for the future for Sten De Wit at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research in Delft, whose ideas are being put into practice with SolaRoad
Continue reading...Climate scientists have warned us of coral bleaching for years. It's here | John Abraham
Coral bleaching is becoming an increasingly frequent and severe problem in a hotter world
Readers may have noticed that it’s been about a month since my last article. In recent weeks I presented guest articles in place of my own pieces. The reason for my absence was due to the adoption I was finalizing in the USA (my second successful adoption!). Anyone who has adopted a child can attest to the time and travel requirements. I intend that this article marks my return to near weekly posting and I thank my readers for their patience.
Coral reefs are important for the health of the ocean biosystem; they support and harbor a high density of diverse organisms. While there are reefs located in many locations around the world, people often think first about the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coast. It is known for its size and beauty; it brings travelers close to nature.
Continue reading...Bustards strut their stuff after return to the plain
Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire The breeding season has started late and male great bustards are still performing their elaborate courtship displays
We follow a pitted farm track over the brow of the hill and into the valley, then climb off-road to the hide. The 38,0000 hectare chalk plateau is a haven for wildlife with its patchwork of close-cropped grass, golden oilseed rape and small strips of soil ploughed bare to create stone curlew nesting plots.
In 1998 the Great Bustard Group began exploring the possibility of reintroducing this vulnerable species, which became extinct in the UK in 1832. Annual releases of imported bustards began in 2004 and the first eggs were laid by reintroduced birds in 2007, but the population is not yet self-sustaining. Although breeding has taken place every year, survival rates are low and not all surviving juveniles are recruited to the adult population. Lekking usually peaks in April, but this year the breeding season started later than usual and I’ve been told that there is still a chance of seeing the males perform their elaborate display.
Continue reading...Climate change: Melbourne renewable energy project provides global blueprint
The project, which would create a guaranteed market for renewable energy, aims to reduce city’s annual emissions by 138,000 tonnes a year
It’s an unmistakably Melbourne setting: councillor Arron Wood is the city’s environment portfolio chairman, standing in a rooftop courtyard as the faint sound of trams rises up from Swanston Street down below and the surrounding skyline reaches into a cool autumn sky.
Against this backdrop, not to mention the solar thermal panels on the next level, Wood does not hold back when discussing how cities can lead from the front in tackling climate change.
Continue reading...Australia's largest cockatoo threatened by bauxite mining
Exclusive: Proposed mines to produce aluminium are putting the habitat of vulnerable Cape York palm cockatoo at risk, sparking calls for stronger environmental laws
Australia’s spectacular palm cockatoo is being put at risk by proposed bauxite mines, conservationists have said.
The Cape York palm cockatoo, Australia’s largest cockatoo, is listed as vulnerable under Australia’s federal environment laws. About 3,000 mature birds are thought to exist, and their numbers are declining.
Continue reading...CO2 turned into stone in Iceland in climate change breakthrough
Radical new technique promises a cheaper and more secure method of burying CO2 emissions underground instead of storing it as a gas
Carbon dioxide has been pumped underground and turned rapidly into stone, demonstrating a radical new way to tackle climate change.
The unique project promises a cheaper and more secure way of burying CO2 from fossil fuel burning underground, where it cannot warm the planet. Such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is thought to be essential to halting global warming, but existing projects store the CO2 as a gas and concerns about costs and potential leakage have halted some plans.
Continue reading...Welcome to Formentera, the island that wants all its cars electric
Tiny Spanish island takes first delivery of electric vehicles as it sets out to become the first in Europe to banish petrol and diesel cars from its shores
The tiny Mediterranean island of Formentera has taken delivery of six electric cars as part of an ambitious plan to be the first island in Europe to banish traditional cars from its shores.
At 12 miles (19km) from end-to-end and with a population of about 12,000, Formentera is the smallest of Spain’s Balearic Islands. In summer, however, 15,000 cars are in circulation, arriving by ferry or rented on the island.
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